With the lucrative CN Precision Series two legs down, Farrington and his superb horse are halfway to the $1 million bonus — thanks to a victory in the CN Performance grand prix and World Cup qualifier on Sunday afternoon at the Meadows on the Green on the final day of the Spruce Meadows Continental tournament.

“A great start. Now we have to keep being great,”’ submitted Farrington. “We’ll see if we’re up to the challenge.”

For their efforts on Sunday, the dynamic duo pocketed $66,000, plus a $50,000 bonus for winning both this one and the CN Reliability grand prix during last week’s National. The two final events of the Precision Series are during the North American next month and the Masters tournament in September.

Three other riders have won two of the four legs: Lauren Hough, Beezie Madden and Eric Lamaze, four times.

“Maybe we can break the curse,” mused Farrington. “That’ll be hard work here. It’s difficult to win anywhere, especially here in those classes. You have top competitors, big jumps . . . against the best riders in the world.”

Asked what he’d spend his bonus on, the 32-year-old smiled: “Nothing. I’ll put it away and forget about it for a while and stay focused on what’s still left to do here.

“I’ll buy a few rounds probably at the pub for everybody.”

The Wellington, Fla., rider — originally from Chicago — was tops in an all-American six-horse jump-off, as he and Uceko motored through the course in a time of 44.47. That was just over two seconds better than Reed Kessler and Cylana. Charlie Jayne of Elgin, Ill., was third aboard Chill R Z.

“I was thinking a lot about the horses coming behind me,” admitted Farrington. “Beezie’s on the horse that won the World Cup finals, one of the best riders in the world on a fast horse; Charlie Jayne has a very big gallop on that horse similar to mine. So I thought those were both real threats coming after me.”

Throughout the competition there were a number of niggling faults, including three horse-rider combos that did not finish. But the six U.S. riders, also including Madden, McLain Ward and Kirsten Coe, continued to show the excellence they perennially do at the Meadows.

“I was surprised Leopoldo (course designer Palacios) adjusted the time allowed,” said Farrington, as the time given went from 87 seconds to 90 a few riders in. “Usually he adjusts it the other direction, so that was nice. I had a lot of technical lines today . . . I think he got just the right amount of clears that he wanted.”

Kessler, interestingly, was second to Farrington in the CN Reliability earlier this month.

“I’m living under some kind of a curse; I’ve been second about 25 times in a row now,” joked the young Lexington, Ky., rider, who claimed $40,000 for her prize. “I had a feeling he would beat me going after me. She (Cylana) was fantastic. She was there for me today. It’s part of being a team. She carried me through the first round. I wish I could have beaten him, but . . . there’s still a few weeks left.”

Jayne’s horse Chill R Z, at 10, was the youngest of the six in the extra round.

“I was really happy with the way he was,” commented Jayne. “He’d been knocking on the door for the last two weeks. I’d been making little rider errors so I was happy that I fixed it for today.”

The horses and riders will now enjoy a week off from the summer series, resuming jumping with the Canada One from June 25-30.

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